from hardened fishermen to ‘petrel heads’ dolphin …...to ‘petrel heads’ opinion 6...

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From hardened fishermen to ‘petrel heads’

Dolphin plan:what about fishers’

wellbeing?

SNZ Magazine August V6_def.indd 1 26/07/19 3:19 PM

OUR PROMISE

This is our promise to every New Zealander.A promise about one of our most valued and treasured resources.

We are the men and women of the New Zealand seafood industry and we want you to be proud of each and every one of us.

We promise to be guardians of our oceans and to continue finding new ways to lead the world with sustainable practices – right now and for decades to come.

We may not always get it right, but we’re committed to always exploring ways to do things better.

We have nothing to hide and much to be proud of.So come with us and share our stories at seafood.co.nz.

OUR PROMISEIN PRACTICE

OUR CODE OF CONDUCT

We do not condone illegal behaviour.

We will always aim to do the right thing. The law surrounding fishing is both technical andcomplex and, at times, some people may make mistakes. When the law is breached, we willaccept the consequences and make changes where needed.

We will work with Government and other interested parties to developand implement principled and practical policies to ensure the useof fisheries resources is sustainable.

If we don’t fish sustainably our industry has no future; it’s the cornerstone of our business.We must ensure the economic gains we derive do not come at the cost of long-term sustainability. Working constructively with Government is vital to strike the best balance between current resource use and future opportunities for all New Zealanders. Striking this balance requires application of sound principles to develop evidence-based policy that uses robust information.

We will continue to actively minimise our impacts on the marine environmentand encourage others to act similarly.

It is important to us we look after our marine environment. All New Zealanders derive benefits from our natural resources today, but we are also guardians for future generations.This responsibility requires that we take care when we harvest; that we are conscious of our impacts, and that we work hard to reduce them. All food production has an impact on the environment, but we will strive to get ours as close to zero impact as we can.

We will continue to invest in science and innovation to enhance fisheries’resources and add value.

Our fisheries are a treasured resource and, like all other countries, New Zealand uses these natural resources for food, recreation and commerce. We commit to harvest the commercial component of these resources responsibly. We commit to investments that add value to the resources we harvest to deliver optimum value to New Zealand.

We look after our people and treat them fairly.

We value our people. Whether they are working on land or on vessels at sea, we will work hard to keep them safe and to create an environment that fosters their passion for the seafood industry.

We will be accountable for delivering on Our Promise and will supportincreased transparency.

We will report annually on the progress we are making. We understand that much of what we do is over the horizon and out of sight, and we welcome the public becoming better acquainted with how we operate. Increased transparency is part of building that understanding and trust, but it must be affordable, practical and respect the privacy and dignity of our people.

We give our word


Seafood New Zealand | August 2019 | 3

EDITORIALS

In this issue

Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash made a good first impression on the seafood industry after getting the portfolio when the Labour-led coalition took power in 2017. He was approachable, seemed to quickly grasp the issues and appeared to have a genuine wish to listen and learn before making any important decisions. He was generally thought of as a breath of fresh air.

In an exclusive interview with this magazine at that time, the minister said the fishing industry was full of incredibly hard-working men and women trying to make a living, often in dangerous and uncomfortable situations. “We need to ensure that they can continue to do that, but we also need to ensure that the industry moves with the 21st century,” he said then. He was highly critical of the past regime and fully committed to consultation and engagement.

This makes the proposal to fence off large areas of this country’s inshore waters to supposedly protect Hector’s and Maui dolphins particularly surprising. As both Fisheries Inshore New Zealand chief executive Jeremy Helson and NZ Federation of Commercial Fishermen president Doug Saunders-Loder point out in this issue, the proposed closures, if implemented, will badly affect many fishing families. Livelihoods are in danger of being wiped out. What about the wellbeing of our fishers?

If fishing was indeed an imminent threat to the survival of either dolphin species, the plan would be more understandable. However, the evidence does not support that claim. The dolphin threat management plan itself says that the Hector’s dolphin population, estimated at 15,700, is improving. The Maui dolphin is critically endangered, with an estimated adult population of less than 100. But the TMP estimates that set netting kills one Maui dolphin every 10 years, and the trawl fishery one in 50 years. The plan is completely out of kilter with the problem. It has caused consternation in fishing communities around New Zealand.

The minister took office with a clear and repeated promise to engage in genuine consultation with all interested parties. Decisions should be based on properly-researched evidence, he said.

How he responds to the industry’s submissions on the dolphin threat management plan will put those commitments to the test.

Tim PankhurstChief Executive

Published by Seafood New Zealand Ltd.

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Your Say: Contributions of a nature relevant to the seafood industry are welcomed and industry participants are encouraged to contribute. Letters to the Editor should be signed and carry the writers’ full names and addresses.

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However, all photographic material is copyright and written permission is required to reproduce it in any shape or form. Articles and information printed in Seafood New Zealand do not necessarily reflect the opinions or formal position of Seafood New Zealand Ltd unless otherwise indicated.

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ISSN 1172-4633 (Print) ISSN 2538-0834 (Online)

OUR PROMISE

This is our promise to every New Zealander.A promise about one of our most valued and treasured resources.

We are the men and women of the New Zealand seafood industry and we want you to be proud of each and every one of us.

We promise to be guardians of our oceans and to continue finding new ways to lead the world with sustainable practices – right now and for decades to come.

We may not always get it right, but we’re committed to always exploring ways to do things better.

We have nothing to hide and much to be proud of.So come with us and share our stories at seafood.co.nz.

OUR PROMISEIN PRACTICE

OUR CODE OF CONDUCT

We do not condone illegal behaviour.

We will always aim to do the right thing. The law surrounding fishing is both technical andcomplex and, at times, some people may make mistakes. When the law is breached, we willaccept the consequences and make changes where needed.

We will work with Government and other interested parties to developand implement principled and practical policies to ensure the useof fisheries resources is sustainable.

If we don’t fish sustainably our industry has no future; it’s the cornerstone of our business.We must ensure the economic gains we derive do not come at the cost of long-term sustainability. Working constructively with Government is vital to strike the best balance between current resource use and future opportunities for all New Zealanders. Striking this balance requires application of sound principles to develop evidence-based policy that uses robust information.

We will continue to actively minimise our impacts on the marine environmentand encourage others to act similarly.

It is important to us we look after our marine environment. All New Zealanders derive benefits from our natural resources today, but we are also guardians for future generations.This responsibility requires that we take care when we harvest; that we are conscious of our impacts, and that we work hard to reduce them. All food production has an impact on the environment, but we will strive to get ours as close to zero impact as we can.

We will continue to invest in science and innovation to enhance fisheries’resources and add value.

Our fisheries are a treasured resource and, like all other countries, New Zealand uses these natural resources for food, recreation and commerce. We commit to harvest the commercial component of these resources responsibly. We commit to investments that add value to the resources we harvest to deliver optimum value to New Zealand.

We look after our people and treat them fairly.

We value our people. Whether they are working on land or on vessels at sea, we will work hard to keep them safe and to create an environment that fosters their passion for the seafood industry.

We will be accountable for delivering on Our Promise and will supportincreased transparency.

We will report annually on the progress we are making. We understand that much of what we do is over the horizon and out of sight, and we welcome the public becoming better acquainted with how we operate. Increased transparency is part of building that understanding and trust, but it must be affordable, practical and respect the privacy and dignity of our people.

We give our word


4 | Seafood New Zealand | Volume 27 No. 04

18

CONTENTS

Features12 Seafood career germinates in war zone 18 Cover feature: From hardened fishermen to ‘petrel heads’

Opinion6 Government’s dolphin plan ignores human cost 39 Global politics affecting seafood trade

Regulars10 News: Plenty of froth atop Emerson’s seafood brews 27 Faces of the Federation: “Don’t sit back”, says young skipper Sam Hayes 32 Event: Lively crowd at federation conference 34 Salt of the ocean: Roughy pioneer still dreams of fishing 42 Recipe: Panko crumbed ling tacos

12

42 39



NEWS

New Plymouth fisherman Curly Brown had a welcome distraction from getting to grips with electronic reporting in May – a visit from a seabird that’s only had a sighting recorded once before in New Zealand waters.

And the red-footed booby didn’t just show itself and fly off. It sat on Receiver’s bow rail for 10 hours.

Brown, who takes a keen interest in birds, spotted the booby when he went to lay anchor 10 nautical miles due north of Waitara in the North Taranaki Bight.

When he let the anchor go the bird flew away in a big arc, returning to its perch. It stayed on the bow

Colourful visitor enlivens trip

rail all night, taking its leave when he turned on the foredeck light at 5.30am.

Brown had left the camera he bought to take pictures of birds at home, and was able only to get cellphone images, but these were clear enough to identify the booby.

He said it was ironic that he’d had an encounter with such a rare creature when in 38 years of fishing, he’d never sighted a Maui’s dolphin, the species that is driving the Government’s requirement that he fit cameras to his boat.

The red-footed booby, the smallest member of the gannet and booby family, prefers warm waters. According to New Zealand Birds Online, the only other recorded New Zealand sighting was at Muriwai gannet colony near Auckland in 2017. Several were seen at the Kermadec Islands the year before. None of the other gannet or booby species have red feet.

A red-footed booby similar to the one that landed on Curly Brown’s boat. Photo, Les Feasey.



OPINION

According to Psychologytoday.com, well-being is the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having good mental health, high life satisfaction, and a sense of meaning or purpose.

The Government likes all these words. Many government media releases and policy papers are now not complete without a liberal sprinkling of “well-being”. We have the Local Government

Government’s dolphin plan ignores the human cost Jeremy Helson

I was asked to write about the Government’s recently released Hector’s and Maui Dolphin Threat Management Plan (Dolphin TMP). Before I do that, stay with me for a short but necessary detour down the rabbit hole that is Wellington.

(Community Well-being) Amendment Bill, a Child and Youth Well-being Strategy, and have even had the Well-being Budget. This is all laudable stuff.

So why does the Government care so little about the well-being of fishers and their families?

The content of the Dolphin TMP was a surprise to many. The seafood industry has devoted a great deal of time, effort and money to reducing risks to these marine mammals and will continue to do so. Yet the content of the TMP sought not to build on those efforts, or to assist with increasing the speed and efficacy of that work. Rather, what’s proposed in the Dolphin TMP is simply to close down vast areas of the coast to fishing and forget about the fishers, their families, the processing facilities and the wider communities they support.

The consultation paper dispassionately states that hundreds of fishers will be affected (many wiped



OPINION

out) and hundreds of millions of dollars will be lost from regional economies. There is no discussion of the human impacts, compensation, or transitional assistance.

Similarly, there is no proper recognition of the impact these measures would have on Maori. Many in the seafood industry obtained quota under the Deed of Settlement and have since invested heavily to expand their quota and business assets. Meaningful conversations must guide the remainder of this process.

After seeing the consultation paper, many within industry alerted MPI to their concerns about what was proposed in the TMP, and the human cost. These are people, not numbers in a spreadsheet.

MPI has since woken up to the reality of what they have unleashed. They have made some effort to support those most affected which is commendable and a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, this is all a bit of an afterthought and too late to mitigate the immediate personal cost. MPI’s website now contains a page about Support for Fishers to “give help and advice with health, well-being, and making business decisions”. Among the information provided are links to Work and Income NZ, Job Seeker Support, information through IRD for businesses making a loss, and Lifeline.

Shortly after being elected, the Prime Minister told Radio NZ the following: “I also want this

government to feel different, I want people to feel that it’s open, that it’s listening and that it’s going to bring kindness back.”

Well this sure feels different, and if this is governing with kindness, we still have a long way to go.

Dr Jeremy Helson is chief executive of Fisheries Inshore New Zealand.

Jeremy Helson

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Both its predecessor Whanganui Boats and the current company built many vessels for the fishing industry up until the early 2000s but it has mainly been occupied by other contracts in recent years.

Q-West has built the Whalewatch Kaikoura fleet, three 34-metre ferries for the Auckland company Fullers and a range of other craft including pilot boats, work boats, pleasure craft and barges.

Its other current projects include a 24m quad-

Mussel harvester opens way for more Bill Moore

With construction of its f irst mussel harvester running to plan Whanganui f irm Q-West Boat Builders is keen for more.

engined 116-passenger catamaran for Whale Watch and a 19m front-loading dumb barge that will carry diggers and trucks. Last year it completed a 15m cray boat for a Kaikoura client.

“You name it, we build it. A yard our size cannot be a one-trick pony, you’ve got to be able to do everything,’’ said chief executive Colin Mitchell.

The 30m aluminium mussel harvester the company is building for Nelson-based MacLab is a job Q-West has been especially pleased to get.

“We’ve been trying to secure a project for a mussel harvester for a long time,” Mitchell said. “MacLab was the perfect customer, because they were looking for a builder that they had confidence in being able to deliver on time and on budget.

The 30m hull being turned at Q West’s Whanganui yard.

NUTS AND BOLTS



Whanganui - New Zealand | +64 6 349 0035 | [email protected] | www.q-west.com

Colin Mitchell at the stern of party-built mussel harvester, due to be delivered in November.

“The industry’s been reasonably well catered for with existing builders so it was a good opportunity to get in and get the first one under our belt.”

He said one of Q-West’s assets was its strong project management, working with component suppliers and manufacturers to make sure that every system was installed not only the way required by the vessel designer, but also the manufacturer.

“We do all the background research and make sure that every supplier has an opportunity to comment on our findings, so that we don’t end up putting an inherent fault into the boat.”

The twin-engined harvester is scheduled for sea trials and delivery in November and Mitchell said construction was on time and going very well.

He said the project provided the mussel industry an alternative to consider when looking to build a new boat.

“All we look for is the opportunity to present what we’re capable of doing. This boat gives us that.”

NUTS AND BOLTS


NEWS

Orange roughy and Bluff oysters will feature at this year’s Seafood New Zealand annual conference in Queenstown.

That is the beer, not the fish. Dunedin-based Emerson’s Brewery developed the

Orange Roughy “hazy tropical pale ale” a couple of years ago, named after a local fisherman, a Port Chalmers identity known as Roughy.

The beer can advises “orange roughy’s scientific name is Hoplostethus atlanticus, which roughly translates as hazy, hoppy pale ale with a tropical fruit aroma, citrus flavour, and malty backbone”.

It continues: “In the past, the roughy has been subject to unsustainable practices – completely selling out. Thanks to the hard work of our brewers,

Plenty of froth atop Emerson’s seafood brews Tim Pankhurst

numbers are now on the rise. Careful you don’t exceed your quota, though.”

Another innovative beer – Bluffie stout with Bluff oysters – also has entertaining origins.

“Earlier this year, the toughest, hardiest souls braved the treacherous Foveaux Strait to collect Bluff oysters. Richard Emerson also went along. His mission was to get a load of the freshest oysters back to the brewery without scoffing them. This rich, dark, briny stout is proof that he got the job done, despite the green face. It’s amazing what a good beer can drive a man to do.”

Bluffie debuted at this year’s Bluff Oyster Festival, where 1300 litres were consumed.

The recipe included 25kg of oyster meat, sourced


Greg Menzies with Emerson’s beers brewed with seafood in mind.



NEWS

from Barnes Oysters in Invercargill, and 30 litres of brine.

The brewery’s history is also recorded on each can.“In 1922, Richard Emerson decided the world

needed another brewery. Fortunately, all advice to the contrary fell on deaf ears. Emerson’s Brewery has come a long way since then. Well, about 500 metres.”

In line with identifying with local characters, Emerson’s previously brewed a beer named Gary.

“He did drink a lot,” Emerson’s sales and marketing manager Greg Menzies said.

Menzies is a local lad in “a dream job”. His previous experience was with wine companies

Montana and Villa Maria and then Fonterra. When being vetted for his current role by Richard

Emerson he was asked what he wanted to drink. “Emerson’s London Porter,” he replied. “You’ve got the job,” was the response. The brewery was bought by Japanese-owned Lion

in 2012, and has grown significantly since. The workforce has expanded from 18 to 80

employees and production has doubled to two million litres annually since the brewery moved to an expanded new site in the northeast of Dunedin city three years ago.

Emerson’s will launch another seafood-themed local beer at the Port Chalmers Seafood Festival on Sept 29 – Jock Stewart.

And it will also fortify its Bluffie stout for the occasion, doubling the amount of oyster meat in the brew.

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FEATURE

South West Africa, 1989. It was the beginning-of-the-end of apartheid and

the dying stages of the South African Border War – also called the Namibian War of Independence.

The South African Defence Force (SADF) was fighting the Peoples’ Liberation Army of Namibia and a young cop from Onehunga was in the thick of it.

Mark Ngata, now chief executive of Ngati Porou Seafoods, was seconded to the United Nations to help oversee the transition from South African rule to the indigenous people of the new independent country, Namibia.

The United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) was the first operation of its kind for a

large New Zealand contingent of more than 30 military, police, and civilians who were to monitor and support the ceasefire between the South African forces and the Southwest Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO).

Ngata said although there was a war going on, most of the fighting was in southern Angola because that’s where the well-equipped South African defence forces had pushed the rebels in a 20-year border war.

“It was a dangerous area as there was also a civil war going on between Angolan forces and Unita rebels. We used to laugh amongst ourselves as one minute you were in the bush patrolling with the SADF and the next minute you could be in western-

War zone experience ignites seafood career Lesley Hamilton

An aerial view of Mark Ngata’s former workplace, the Namibian port of Luderitz.



FEATURE

Ngati Porou Seafoods chief executive Mark Ngata.

style shopping centres or tourist facilities drinking beer on the coast,” he said.

“It was like the people knew a war was going on but life was normal in the rest of the country. The Kiwis, as we were known, were well liked and because of our friendly nature and can-do attitude were often put in charge of regional outposts along the border.

“I had 18 months with the United Nations, got married to my lovely wife Nazeema who missed home. I didn’t really need much convincing, so we decided to go back to Auckland for a while.”

On his return to Africa, Ngata worked as a rugby development officer alongside the Namibian Rugby Union. Was he any good as a rugby player?

“Being a very humble person,” he starts, as the room erupts in laughter, “I would describe myself as a solid reliable club player who, like most, started as a fleet-footed winger and ended my playing days in the front row. My first game in Namibia was on a gravel, sandy field and when things got a bit heated players picked up stones and threw them at each other. It was a different experience for sure but the talent amongst the black and coloured players was outstanding and I enjoyed my part as coach in helping many of them reach representative levels. The coach and management team of the Namibian rugby team at the last Rugby World Cup in New Zealand were some of my players, I’m very proud of them.”

Ngata said the fishing industry in Africa at that time was multinational.

“Very big corporations dominated fishing in Southern Africa. They came in from Spain, Portugal and South Africa – companies larger than Sealord, and the fishing arm was usually a small sub-set of a

much larger corporation.” With independence still very new, there were

many new fishing companies being set up and Ngata was asked to run one, Agatha Bay Fishing, out of Luderitz, running two tuna pole freezer vessels each with 12 crew and a 24-metre trawler with 12-15 crew.

“I had some experience in fishing, working on trawlers out of Gisborne after school, but being thrust in at this level was a real eye-opener for me. I had to use all my wits and common sense to make it work.”

Luderitz on the Skeleton Coast was pretty much just rocks and sand, Ngata said.

“It was a fishing town for sure, but the main industry was diamonds with small boats with vacuum type systems in the sea and large mining operations on the land. Like the early days in Bluff, the majority of the main street was pubs and because it was one of the windiest places in the world a bit of time was spent in these establishments or the German club or the yacht club, which had 150 members and two yachts. It was on the edge of the Namib desert with 400-500 miles of straight sand and wind-swept road to the nearest town.”

Ngata then worked for a seafood company called Lalandii, named after the African spiny rock lobster.

“The company had massive quota of lobster, which was cooked whole and frozen for the Japanese market. The fish was generally skinless, boneless 10kg frozen packs, or fresh chilled to Europe. The factory alone had 500 workers.

“I managed to land jobs at management level – production manager, factory manager, general manager and CEO. I found it quite easy to work over there because 90 percent of the workers were of

black or coloured origin who knew I wasn’t white and who knew the All Blacks, so I found it easy to move across the different racial groups professionally and socially.”

While the fishing companies were doing their best to get people employed, it wasn’t always easy.

“Post-independence many of the black tribal

“I had some experience in fishing, working on trawlers out of Gisborne after school, but being thrust in at this level was a real eye-openerfor me. I had to use all my wits and common sense to make it work.”– MARK NGATA


FEATURE


people were streaming down from the north to the large factories on the coast looking for work. Being from small villages, they had no history of fishing or working in factories and there were often 200 people standing at the factory gates looking for work.” The different tribal groups didn’t all get along with each other so the competition for jobs could be violent.

“When we started putting people from the black tribal groups on boats they got very disorientated at sea, they couldn’t see the land and just wanted to get home and unfortunately some just walked off the stern into the cold sea. Fortunately, it didn’t happen too often.”

Ngata’s African experience with workplace relations had him recently joking with Moana CEO Steve Tarrant who was dealing with calls for living wage increases at a Moana NZ site.

“When my factory staff in Luderitz went on strike they generally took me or other members of management hostage. The police and riot squads had to come in and actually negotiate your release. I was telling Steve [Tarrant] that he’s got an easy job.

“Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t fear for my life. The staff were just trying to make a point, which I usually took on board.

“The other problem to deal with was AIDS. More than 30 percent of our staff had this condition and almost every month a worker would die from it. This was common in all factories and was unfortunately a reality you just have to deal with.”

Ngata said it was a new country, people were getting access to good jobs for the first time and the rights that went with it. “Hell of a transition period, but you just had to roll with these sorts of things. In a way, while I missed most of the Maori Fisheries settlement negotiations I kind of had my own indigenous settlement issues to deal with, which was a great experience.”

During this time, Sea Harvest, a large corporate-based fishing company in Saldanha Bay near Cape Town took over Lalandii. Ngata was kept on as

the business transitioned from bulk commodity products to 200-400 gram retail products for the European market.

Sealord arrived in the late 1990s looking for new orange roughy grounds and formed a joint venture with Sea Harvest, which along with I&J, were the two largest fishing companies working out of Southern Africa.

“Sea Harvest in South Africa is larger than Sealord, with three 90-metre freezer vessels and 14 chilled vessels landing around 120 tonnes of hake weekly and 1500 factory workers. I got to know the Sealord guys, and they told me to look them up when I came back to New Zealand – and that’s exactly what I did.”

In 2000, Ngata and his wife decided it was time to bring the kids home for their education, to spend time with their Kiwi grandparents and learn more about their Maori whakapapa. After talking with a few industry people, he contacted Sir Tipene O’Regan who was chair of Sealord at the time.

“It’s all about timing, isn’t it? Ta Tipene put me in touch with Ngai Tahu Seafoods who were looking for a group operations manager, the position I successfully applied for. It was a great job and a new experience for me within the New Zealand fishing industry. Ngai Tahu Seafoods was in a real growth phase and we had a fish factory and oysters in Bluff, fish, lobster and live eels in Dunedin and also a paua canning plant at the time. They also had sites in Kaikoura, Haast and Picton and mussel farms in the Marlborough Sounds. We had about 150 staff and were exporting product to Australia, Asia, and the USA. It was the ultimate example, in my view, of an iwi using its fisheries settlement assets positively for the benefit of its people, which it continues to do

Mark Ngata’s “dream team” of factory supervisors included 11 different ethnic groups.

today, and I will never forget my time there,” Ngata said.

Ngata stayed with Ngai Tahu Seafoods until late 2006 and then returned home to Gisborne and took up the chief executive role at Ngati Porou Seafoods in 2007, where he remains, continuing to build a sustainable, innovative, and profitable fishing business for the iwi and encouraging more young

“When my factory staff in Africa went on strike they generally took us management hostage. The police and riot squads had to come in and actually negotiate your release.”– MARK NGATA



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FEATURE

Mark Ngata in his police UNTAG days, Namibia.

Ngati Porou to find their way in the world and then bring those skills back to where they began.

“I use the words of my great grand uncle, Ta Apirana Ngata, to inspire me every day and keep me focused on ensuring Maori fisheries remain strong for the future.

“In 1928 he said: The call is now on the younger generation of the tribe, for whom our fathers and forefathers treasured hopes and dreamed dreams in their time, when the tribal resources were slender and not so well organised as they are now. To them we owe the whole of our education; they fought blindly to retain the lands we live on; they bridged the gap between the old communal system and the co-operative efforts today. It is our generation’s turn to carry on the responsibilities in our time, and in accordance with our greater resources and higher standards.”

Ngata continues to be actively involved within Maori fisheries, including as chairman of the 11 year Maori Fisheries Review Committee, chairman of the Iwi Collective Partnership (ICP), a group of 16 iwi who have pooled their resources to create improved returns and investment opportunities, a director on Port Nicholson Fisheries, the largest Maori owned live lobster export business with more than 30 iwi stakeholders, and as chairman of Nga Tapuwae o Maui, which is a partnership with 40 iwi stakeholders collaborating with Sealord in deepsea fisheries.



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More adult paua survived the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake than initially feared but different sections of coast were more badly hit than others, surveys have shown.

Paua Industry Council chairman Storm Stanley said paua survival was “very patchy’’.

“In some areas the paua are gone completely, as has the habitat. In some the closure has meant good populations of big fish are there, as you might expect.”

Stanley said the intertidal zone where all paua larvae settlement took place and juveniles began to grow was now mostly above water.

“Whether the new intertidal zone has re-set in an ecological sense is where much of the research is concentrated. If it isn’t, you very quickly mine down the adult population with no replacements coming through.”

He said work was underway to set in place the required circumstances to start re-opening the paua fishery.

Paua surveys encouraging

Fisheries New Zealand has committed to continue the monitoring programme of paua and rocky reef recovery along the Kaikoura coastline until at least 2020. It will use the results of this research to inform decisions and advice to the fisheries minister on any reopening of the paua fishery. It is working closely with iwi, the wider community and stakeholders to ensure decisions are based on the best available scientific and on-the-water information.

“We are hoping everyone continues to be patient and takes a long-term view.”

Commercial paua fishers have supported the closure since the beginning, and Stanley said this was clearly the best decision for the fishery at the time in response to the earthquake effects, but that when the time was right it should be re-opened.

The earthquake thrust up large sections of the Kaikoura coast, devastating the paua habitat to the extent that in the months following it was suggested the fishery might have to stay closed for up to 10 years.

The closure covers the 140km section of coast from Marfells Beach in Marlborough to the Conway River 30km south of Kaikoura. Shellfish and seaweed can’t be taken. Crayfish and scampi are excluded.

Paua Industry Council chairman Storm Stanley.



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COVER FEATURE

From hardened fishermen to ‘petrel heads’




COVER FEATURECOVER FEATURE

From hardened fishermen to ‘petrel heads’ A rare collaboration between fishermen and conservationists is improving the lot of a vulnerable New Zealand seabird, the black petrel. It’s also changing attitudes and forging new links, reports LESLEY HAMILTON.



COVER FEATURE


Some are heavily tattooed, most are out of breath and almost all are wondering why the hell they are there. It is a far cry from the urban environment most call home. It bears little resemblance to anything they are familiar with and is not what they signed up for when agreeing to crew a fishing vessel out of Tauranga.

However, this collaboration between young fishermen and conservationists is changing lives.

Adam Clow is a young dad. He skippers the longliner Southern Cross out of Tauranga and, with his dad Phil, has just converted the Tarpeena, a former Danish seiner to a bottom longliner.

Clow has just returned from Great Barrier Island, a breeding ground for the nationally vulnerable seabird, black petrel (taiko). It is here that he regularly brings his young crew to learn about the bird that is susceptible to dying on the longline hooks that are the fishermen’s livelihoods.

The black petrel breeds only on Great and Little Barrier Islands in the Hauraki Gulf. Great Barrier Island’s Mount Hobson stands 622 metres tall and is home to

the largest colony. “Crew come and go but when you think you

have some stayers I make sure to take them up the mountain,” Clow said.

Southern Seabirds Solutions is a charitable trust with a focus on protecting seabirds in New Zealand and Clow credits trust convenor Janice Molloy with the initiative.

“We wanted to find a way to make fishermen more aware of seabirds and to do a better job of protecting them,” Molloy said. “We wanted to give them a hands-on way to learn about the birds – get them off the water and get them to the mountain to handle the birds and meet the ecologists.”

The visits to the colony have been going for five years.

Clow said he was still seeing the value of that very first trip all that time ago. “My boys, the ones who did that first trip, are still talking about it and teaching the younger crews what they learned. They are really proud they’ve done it.”

The trek to the colony at the top of the mountain is an eye-opener for the crew.

The industry has its fair share of hard men and women. Clow runs a hard-working boat and the crew respect that. He is clearly close to his staff and pays them well. In an industry that struggles to recruit, Clow is doing a pretty good job of keeping them, although taking them

Five young men struggle their way through bush to the top of a 600-metre mountain on a remote island in the Hauraki Gulf.

Adam Clow (left) and his petrel crew Mitchell Thomas, Mathew Anderson and Nigel Hollands (right).



COVER FEATURE

for a hike up a mountain to cuddle birds could easily have been a leap of faith in their stickability.

“We steamed out from Whitianga. Took an ex-fishing boat. Took us about seven hours to get there. Had to stop in the middle of the channel to do a filter change because all the fuel filters were blocked but, we got there. We caught a feed of snapper while the maintenance was being done,” Clow said.

Once on Great Barrier the trek to the breeding ground is a two-hour uphill hike.

Clow laughs: “They’re puffed for a start. Too many cigarettes. They are happy and excited to be off the boat but really have no idea why they are going to climb a mountain to look at seabirds in burrows.

“We punch our way through the scrub and when we get up there the scientists give us a spiel about the life cycle of the bird and then we start helping with tagging the chicks. The technique is that you put your hand in

“They’re puffed for a start. Too many cigarettes. They are happy and excited to be off the boat but really have no idea why they are going to climb a mountain to look at seabirds in burrows.”– ADAM CLOW

Video will spread message

Education about the rarity of black petrels needs to be shared not only amongst New Zealand fishermen but also those fleets that overlap with them when they are on their migration to South America.

The Southern Seabird Solutions Trust has received funding from the Auckland Zoo Charitable Trust to produce educational material for fishermen in Ecuador and Peru and is producing a video that liaison officers in those countries can show fishermen.

The video will feature Adam Clow and his crew visiting the black petrel colony on Great Barrier Island and will also show the efforts Clow and others take to reduce the risk to black petrels while bottom longlining.

the burrow and the chick bites your finger with a very sharp little beak and then you can gently pull it out by its beak.

“You then hold it like a baby, very carefully, while the ecologists tag it. They are about 500 grams to a kilo and are very fluffy and warm. They record all its information and then we pop them back into the burrow.”

The young fishermen then share dinner with the wildlife management team in the hut.

“And we share stories as well. As interesting as it is for us to hear from them about the black petrel life cycle and what they are doing when they are not on the water, the ecologists are just as interested to talk to the fishermen.

“We can tell them what they are doing when they are on the water – how they are feeding and other behaviours. You can’t buy that information anywhere else.”

The exchange of information is a win for both sides. “My guys would never usually rub shoulders with

these people. It’s two different walks of life coming together.

“You can actually see the mindset change. They’re holding the birds, helping the scientists tag them, learning that people come from all over the world to photograph these birds. That there are people who spend their whole lives studying the birds that we get to see every day out on the water.”

Clow is in awe of the birds’ journey. “These birds start their life on Great Barrier, and

when they leave, for the very first time, they fly 12,000 kilometres due east, turn left at the Galapagos and

Photo, Dave Boyle.



COVER FEATURE

congregate in the waters off Ecuador where they spend the summer. From the time the bird leaves Great Barrier it won’t touch land again until about five years later when it returns to the colony to mate.”

The black petrel is a monogamous bird and both parents incubate the egg for 57 days and then jointly care for the chick.

“Something that I hammer home to the boys is that, if we accidentally kill a black petrel during the breeding season we will also be killing the one in the burrow waiting for food. That pretty much makes them take extra, extra care.”

Clow knows that the seabirds are still in decline but that while they’re in New Zealand, the best is being done for them.

“Self-reporting by fishermen when they catch a seabird is 100 percent better than it was 10 years ago. The more information we have to feed into the science the easier it is to calculate numbers.“

Seabird Smart workshops have run alongside colony visits. These teach skippers and crew how to minimise seabird interactions and how to mitigate against capture.

“Different regions have different species they try to educate their crews on in these workshops. I know there is good work also going on with the hoiho, (yellow-eyed penguin) down south.”

Down from the mountain and back on board Clow sees a total change in attitude towards seabirds.

“They all know about the mitigation methods we employ on board to avoid seabird bycatch but changing the attitude towards the creatures is the key. They want to do better. They have a new bond with

Seabird expert and crew member Leef Smith.


1 2 3


COVER FEATURE

the bird because they have handled it and that’s the brilliance of this gig.”

Clow singles out his crewmate Leef Smith. “He is our seabird guy. He knows even more than

some of our observers. Leef will name every bird, every type of albatross – he’s right into it.”

The programme on Great Barrier is run by Wildlife Management International under a dedicated team led by Elizabeth (Biz) Bell who has spent nearly 25 years studying black petrels in their burrows.

“Biz almost knows these petrels by name. She has put her whole life’s work into this. They are conservationists. They are greenies. They are seabird experts who are leading the world in seabird translocations, but they are getting alongside us fishermen.

“They are working with us and training us. They’re not pointing the finger. They are actually getting in beside us and teaching us. Biz is an incredible person and so passionate about this.”

Clow said he was proud to live in a country where fishermen and conservationists can get around a table, talk and get the right outcome.

Industry working on seabird catch mitigation

The seafood Industry invests substantial amounts of time, resources and energy working with open- minded collaborators, who like the industry, believe that to effect real change a collaborative proactive pragmatic approach is preferable to a big stick. Three examples:

The amazing diversity of seabirds makes New Zealand one of the most challenging places in the world to fish without risking catching seabirds. FINZ is actively facilitating and implementing these projects to meet this challenge.

Underwater bait setter

Fisheries Inshore New Zealand (FINZ) and Southern Seabirds Solutions Trust (SSST) have been promoting this with the Government. A trial is underway to test the technology, which carries baited hooks underwater in a steel capsule connected to hydraulic winches. This deploys the baited hooks to depths beyond the reach of albatrosses and petrels. This trial is a collaborative effort, and is being funded by the Department of Conservation, Fisheries New Zealand, FINZ and the Auckland Zoo Charitable Trust.

Hookpods

Hookpods enclose the baited hooks in a case, releasing them 10-15 metres below the surface, considered below the high-risk area for diving birds. Prior to the inclusion of hookpods as a mitigation measure by regional fishery management organisations, FINZ was already working closely with Hookpod Ltd to test hookpods in New Zealand’s fisheries. Commercial operators have been testing 600 hookpods since May 2019, with another 1200 to be deployed soon.

Adaptive management toolsFINZ is looking at the potential capabilities of integrating Electronic Reporting (ER) with wider gear sensors. A DOC funded project currently underway is developing electronic tags that attach to lines to enable fishers to monitor the depth and distance of their hooks in real time and make decisions to mitigate risks to seabirds. This is a collaborative project involving Trident Systems and ZebraTech.

“This is the best approach. Working together with NGOs and government and hammering it out is the best way to get results. We all work in with our regional DOC seabird liaison officers who support us to set up our boats to reduce seabird bycatch. One of them even joined us on our trip up the mountain.”

Clow, like many other fishers, faces his share of ignorance around the commercial fishing industry.

“Only a small number of people know what we do, and the others have to wade through the bullshit. Your child’s bus driver, or the guy that changes your tyre will tell you what they think you are doing wrong out there. As you get older you get a harder skin. It used to really affect me, but you have to hold your head up and know you are doing your best.”

Clow has seen a massive turnaround on conservation issues in the nine years he has been fishing.

“I am seeing hard guys, guys you would never have expected to care, filling out the protected species book and telling other guys to make sure they do it. These are people you would never have thought would come around, but they have.”

Clow is a big fan of cameras on vessels and has had



COVER FEATURE

cameras on the Southern Cross for six years but admits there is still some work to do to get them on every vessel.

“On the two boats that I operate we have volunteered to have cameras watching us every second of the day. If you are not doing anything wrong, and it is practical to actually put a camera on a boat, then I reckon most guys would want it.”

Walking up the wharf from the Southern Cross, Clow takes time out to stop and wish a departing crew member good luck. Why is he leaving?

“He’s tired. This life is hard. You can’t do it forever. But these guys are walking out of a week working for me with good money in their pockets.

“They earn every cent. But that’s not everything.” Meanwhile, Clow is putting family first with a long

holiday. Along with his wife Rachel and their three young children they are off to the Pacific Islands in a purpose-built catamaran. Clow will sail the family from the Coromandel to Tonga and Fiji.

He too can see a time when he could leave fishing behind.

“Yeah, I will exit eventually. I want to do more conservation work. I just hope that what we have taught these young guys will filter down to the next lot. I think it will. We have to do the right thing.”

Adam Clow (left), with fellow “petrel heads” Mathew Anderson, Luke Fisher, Simon Blithe and Seabird Liaison Officer Nigel Hollands (right).

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Safe crews fish more

But he had an auto pilot, right?

Jangle Jim always made sure that his crew got sleep, but no not him. After one really rough trip, Jangle sent the crew to get some sleep and kept watch.

they’re not always reliable in FLood tides. Neither are tired skippers. But rocks are. And so was the awful jangle sound when he smashed into them. They couldn’t FIsh for weeks.

SAFETY = + HSWA



For tips on safe fishing go to www.maritimenz.govt.nz/fatigue

Safe crews fish more

But he had an auto pilot, right?

Jangle Jim always made sure that his crew got sleep, but no not him. After one really rough trip, Jangle sent the crew to get some sleep and kept watch.

they’re not always reliable in FLood tides. Neither are tired skippers. But rocks are. And so was the awful jangle sound when he smashed into them. They couldn’t FIsh for weeks.

SAFETY = + HSWA



There will be a large Australian presence at the 2019 Trans-Tasman Rock Lobster Industry Conference to be held at Queenstown’s Millennium Hotel from August 11 to 13.

In keeping with the relative size of the industry in both countries, Australian delegates will comprise about 60 percent of the 250 attendees.

CRA8 Lobster Industry Association chief executive Malcolm Lawson said the international market would be a major conference focus.

China is the dominant export market, with New Zealand’s southern rock lobster the most sought-after species, followed by the Western Australia species.

Lawson said the Chinese buyers’ willingness to pay for lobster from New Zealand and Australia was welcome.

“At the same time there’s always a little bit of a feeling that we’ve got all our eggs in one basket. Everyone is always interested in what’s happening in China – ongoing confidence in the market but also in the way things are developing over there in online selling and that sort of thing.”

The conference theme is “supporting success’’. Lawson said two years ago it was “are we on course?”

NEWS

Australians flocking to lobster conference

“By the end of that it was pretty well accepted that a great majority of trans-Tasman lobster fisheries knew where they were going with the management strategies they had in place. This is really the next step – because of the active management we’ve had and some smart decisions, the fisheries have been successful.

“A successful fishery isn’t always going up of course, it’s one where if there are issues, it’s in a position to be able to respond to those issues.”

Speakers will present on a range of topics that all in their own way continue to contribute to the success of the industry through addressing issues, reflecting on what has worked and the development of new initiatives. Keynote speakers are Western Rock Lobster Council chief executive Matt Taylor and University of Maine Lobster Institute director Rick Wahle.

The trans-Tasman conference is held every two years and is gaining international recognition. A new innovation this time is the trial of livestreaming some presentations to industry members unable to attend in person, including the international audience.

The New Zealand lobster fishery has a Total Allowable Commercial Catch of 2800 tonnes, with conference host CRA8 – southern New Zealand – having 35 percent of the national quota.

Western Australia alone has 5500 tonnes with commercial lobster fisheries also in Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.

Belying the tonnages, lobster is at the top of seafood export earnings in both nations.

CRA8 Lobster Industry Association chief executive Malcom Lawson.



FACES OF THE FEDERATION

Don’t sit back, says young Whangarei skipper

At 32, Sam Hayes has been earning his living from fishing for more than half his life – and going to sea for longer than that.

Bill Moore

The son of Whangarei commercial fisherman Greg Hayes, he recalls looking forward to heading out on his father’s boat during the school holidays.

“It was always a big part of our lives.” He said school was ‘’the last place I wanted to

be” and when a mate turned up and asked him to go surface lining, at 15 ½ he became a commercial fisherman.

Greg was semi-retired at that time, but decided to get back into fishing and after a year of catching albacore and bluefin tuna, Hayes was back with dad, Danish seining for 12 months. Next came his first trawling job, working out of Auckland on the deepsea boat Seamount Enterprise. He did four seasons on orange roughy, earning his skipper’s ticket towards the end of that stint, and then started on a small inshore trawler.

“I absolutely loved it,” he said. A year or so later he joined Sanford’s San Colville, Danish seining again. It was another four-year job and then he

bought the trawler Jay Debra, finding out later that his winning tender was just $1000 ahead of the competition. A little over two years later he bought his current boat, the 18-metre Kawhia (formerly San Kawhia) basing it at his home port of Whangarei.

Targeting mainly trevally, snapper and tarakihi, almost all caught with the Precision Seafood Harvesting system, he shares the skipper’s role with his brother Bob, taking turn about a week at a time, usually with three crew on board.

His father is a fulltime fisherman again, having bought the Colville from Sanford, with the two boats the biggest in the small Whangarei fishing fleet. Another of Sam’s brothers, Nick, fishes on Colville.

Fishing is more than a living to Hayes. As a youngster he used to “race out in the tinny” after school and today he’s got a six-metre hardtop. He said he loved to take his wife Amy and two pre-school aged daughters Summer and Madison out in it over the summer.

Sam Hayes (top right) with his family and his boat Kawhia pictured in Whangarei. From left Miah, Bob, Ella, Greg, Summer, Aimee, Sam, Madi and Nick. Miah and Ella are Bob’s daughters, Summer and Madi are Sam and Aimee’s daughters. And Greg is the patriarch.




“It’s one of our favourite things. I spend the evening fishing while the girls trawl through my tackle boxes.’’

So when it’s sometimes suggested that it’s surprising he hasn’t ‘’got over” fishing, his answer is clear.

“How could you get over it? It’s wonderful. I absolutely love it.”

Hayes got involved with the Federation five years ago and hasn’t missed an annual conference since.

He likes to see it taking an active role in educating the public about the commercial sector, and fighting its causes, and to see the member banding together.

“If we lose that unity we have no power in the industry.”

He sees a big part of the job as “taking a face to the public and showing them that we’re not the bunch of criminals they seem to think we are”.

He is still learning about how the Federation operates and intends to take a greater role as time goes by, particularly as the older leaders reach retirement age.

Already he puts in a lot of effort trying to turn around negative public opinion, especially among the recreational fishing sector.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve found myself trying to turn just one person. It’s really disheartening when you see how poorly they think of us. There’s definitely been a few guys over the years that haven’t helped our cause – but I know for a fact that’s stopped.”

Hayes said a lack of education about the industry was a main driver of the negativity, coupled with selective reporting of the issues, often giving fishermen only a token voice in the coverage.

“And there’s a few people out there who are trying to turn people against us, the likes of LegaSea, taking the few bad cases there have been, and absolutely playing on them.”

In contrast to the claims the detractors make, the Quota Management System was working very well and he had the evidence in his father’s book-keeping, he said.

“I had a look at Dad’s catch records from Area 1 before the quota system came in – some of those catches were tremendously low, and he struggled. Now we can go into the same areas and we can’t stay away from snapper – it is just prolific to what it was, and we see an increase in other species as well. We’ve had one of our best years on trevally this year.”

He also sees great benefits in PSH, which has been involved with since the early trials and now uses for 90 percent of his fishing.

Combined with onboard pounds to allow the fish to swim after being caught, it produced catches of almost longline quality and value, he said. Even dumping the catch on the deck to be sorted gave substantially better quality than fish caught in a cod end, and this allowed for longer tows.

Sam Hayes with a hapuku that fell foul of a huge mako shark that came alongside Kawhia as he was pulling in his handline.

Sam Hayes with daughter Summer and nephew William Boyd enjoying a favourite family summer pastime – with a nice john dory to show for their efforts.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve found myself trying to turn just one person. It’s really disheartening when you see how poorly they think of us.”– SAM HAYES




The Kawhia. Greg Hayes (second from left) and sons Nick (left), Bob and Sam, all commercial fishermen.

“Everyone gets a good sleep and the quality is still excellent, as if you’ve put the shot down and pulled it up straight away.

“Man I can tell you now, there’s no better trawl technology in the industry.”

Hayes sees himself fishing for at least another 30 years, already thinking that one day his daughters might run the business.

“As the years go on I’m only getting more and more to catch, the way it’s going there’s a strong future for the few young guys that are involved now.”

The industry’s key challenge, he said, was

educating the public into a better opinion of the commercial sector. He supports the industry’s public relations work and has himself been the subject of an episode in Graeme Sinclair’s Ocean Bounty series.

“A lot of the guys that I’ve seen and talked to that have a poor outlook on fishermen, as soon as I start telling them certain things and they start understanding what’s going on, the view changes. It’s such a difficult subject and I’m not sure how we tackle it.

“But you can’t sit back and not do anything.”

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From the president:Consultation has gone – it’s time to push back

Doug Saunders-Loder

I wrote in April about how busy we were, trying to make meaningful submissions about the practical aspects of our business in respect of “Your Fisheries, Your Say” and really trying to remain optimistic about our ability to work with Fisheries New Zealand and introduce some of the most important changes to our business since the introduction of the QMS.

I’ve been disappointed as far as that consultation is concerned. It appears to have disappeared into the mist. Industry has had no more involvement since the close of submissions and you will recall that the thrust of our position was based around a major lack of detail and uncertainty as to how FNZ might handle the long-standing management settings that continue to make fishers criminals and constrain Industry investment. These are not trivial matters. They need to be properly addressed and FNZ know this. Their silence and lack of real, meaningful engagement with our industry on these

Doug Saunders-Loder is president of the NZ Federation of Commercial Fishermen.

significant issues is alarming. Then comes the introduction of electronic

reporting and global position reporting – on the face of it positive initiatives that would incorporate a quicker and easier completion of returns and allow for improved fisheries management outcomes. Whilst there is an over-lying compliance aspect to this, many have embraced it for all the positives it brings and persevere with seeing it through. However, industry knew from the start that rushing it through would inevitably cause problems and so it has.

In situations like this the aspiration often outweighs the reality and we have clearly experienced problems with most of the solutions and the ongoing implementation. FNZ to its credit has tried to “transition” as smoothly as it can but it’s inevitable that frustrations exist and sadly all of the pressure falls on the fisher. What should really be a positive improvement has turned into a stressful and unenjoyable time based on a “regulated” approach that requires “direction orders” and constant instruction from fisheries officers and the Fisheries Communications Centre, which monitors, tracks and communicates with commercial fishing vessels. This is not the fishers’ fault and not the way it should have been. We will keep working with fishermen and FNZ to maintain a seamless transition but it is sad that we have rushed and not been better prepared.

Within the past month our prime minister and minister of fisheries announced that cameras would be placed on 28 vessels that fish the West Coast of the North Island in an attempt to better protect Maui dolphins by verifying the activities of fishermen in that space. They have proudly provided $17m within the latest Budget to accommodate this with little impact on the fishermen. For now.

However, no sooner has this been announced than the Threat Management Plan for the Protection of Maui and Hector’s Dolphins is released which essentially extinguishes the livelihoods of fishermen and their families throughout this range. It promotes closures to both set-net and trawl fisheries on the

FEDERATION



entire West Coast of the North Island (in respect of Maui dolphins), closures to Tasman Bay/Golden Bay, Kaikoura, Canterbury – North Otago and Te Waewae Bay in Southland (in respect of Hector’s).

Don’t get me wrong, these are “options” so industry does have the opportunity to submit and present its case, but isn’t it time now for some honesty?

We do not want and do everything we can to avoid the unnecessary deaths of dolphins. There is probably more that we can do but sadly the point we are at now is that no matter what facts are presented the issue is driven by emotion and politics and the inevitable outcome of this will be the loss of livelihoods – generational livelihoods and jobs that service all of our coastal ports and communities.

This is not about protecting dolphins any longer. It is an environmentally driven, anti-fishing agenda that gives no consideration to the livelihoods or well-being of fishermen and their families. It is driven by international NGOs that threaten the New Zealand Government with claims of poor international reputation. They purposely avoid any context and have captured the media to the extent that they can say what they want without challenge.

The whole approach is theft by stealth – theft of both indigenous and commercial fishing rights delivered through the closure of available fishing areas, the only fishing areas available in most cases.

What other country seeks to extinguish the

property rights and livelihoods of honest, hard- working people that operate legally?

The implications of this TMP will be an economic travesty and will have devastating impacts on our sector. We need to respect the needs of the dolphins but also need to stand up for our rights. Everyone in this industry needs to submit in respect of this TMP regardless of whether it directly impacts on you. It is a matter of principle and needs to be fought vehemently.

Get along to your local MP and make them aware of how outrageous this consultation is in terms of the effects on your business.

We will continue to work with Fisheries Inshore NZ to meet fishermen, to discuss the issues facing you personally and to submit on your behalf. In the meantime, get active and start pushing back.

FEDERATION

Options for ring-fencing legacy tickets closed in 2017. Since then, in special circumstances, seafarers have been able to apply for more time.

This opportunity will end on 31 December 2019. After this date, requests to ring-fence can’t be accepted.

Tell Maritime NZ by 31 December that you want to ring-fence and save your ticket!

DEC

31ST

Now or never!RING-FENCE YOUR TICKETS BY 31 DEC.

maritimenz.govt.nz/[email protected] SEA CERT

@

“Don’t get me wrong, these are ‘options’ so industry does have the opportunity to submit and present its case, but isn’t it time now for some honesty?”– DOUG SAUNDERS-LODER



Lively crowd at Federation conference

EVENT

Worthy recipient of the Electronic Navigation award, Curly Brown.

Seafood New Zealand chief executive Tim Pankhurst (left), with NZFCF president Doug Saunders-Loder and Fisheries Inshore New Zealand chief executive Jeremy Helson (right).

Hilton Slement of Gisborne Fisheries with Keith Mawson, Egmont Seafoods (right).

Alan Rooney and Melanie Brown.Tony Threadwell (left) with Victoria Threadwell and his son Ben Threadwell (right).

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Respect the Cable Protection Zone (CPZ)If you are fishing or anchoring near the CPZ,know your exact location by checking therelevant charts. These include: NZ 463,NZ 6212 and NZ 615.

Should you snag your anchor or fishingequipment on a cable, do not try to free it.Instead, record your position, abandon yourgear and advise Transpower’s patrol vessel(“Seapatroller”, Channel 16 or cellphone0274-442-288) or Transpower of thesituation immediately.

Your biggest catchcould be your worstnightmare


There was a strong attendance at the NZ Federation of Commercial Fishermen Conference and AGM at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands at the end of May.



SEA 14643 A4 Comm Ad v2.indd 10/12/08 10:15 AM Page 1 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K

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Severe Penalties apply – don’t jeopardiseyour livelihoodUnder the law, any vessel of any size, fishingor anchoring in the CPZ may be subject tosignificant legal penalties. These sanctionscover any equipment that may be used for fishingor anchoring deployed over the side of a vesselin the CPZ.

Penalties apply to both the master and vesselowner, including fines up to $100,000 for fishingor anchoring, and up to $250,000 for damaginga submarine cable. In addition the Court mayorder forfeiture of the vessel and Transpower maytake legal action to recover repair costs, whichcould exceed $30–$40 million.

Don’t take chances. Refer to the publicationCook Strait Submarine Cable Protection Zone.This is located on the Transpower websitewww.transpower.co.nzAlternatively contact 0800 THE GRID or0800 843 4743.

Catch fish... not cables

On the sea floor of Cook Strait, 350,000-voltpower cables and fibre optic cables link theNorth and South Islands, delivering essentialelectricity and communication to householdsand businesses throughout New Zealand.At Transpower, it’s our job to keep this energyand communication flowing over land andunder sea. That’s why we have a vital interestin the protection of our undersea cables fromdamage caused by fishing and anchoring inthe Cook Strait Cable Protection Zone.

As a maritime professional, fishing in theCook Strait area, the safety of our country’scritical power and telecommunicationsconnections is literally in your hands.

Respect the Cable Protection Zone (CPZ)If you are fishing or anchoring near the CPZ,know your exact location by checking therelevant charts. These include: NZ 463,NZ 6212 and NZ 615.

Should you snag your anchor or fishingequipment on a cable, do not try to free it.Instead, record your position, abandon yourgear and advise Transpower’s patrol vessel(“Seapatroller”, Channel 16 or cellphone0274-442-288) or Transpower of thesituation immediately.

Your biggest catchcould be your worstnightmare



Retired fisherman Peter Deakin has a recurring dream. He is towing his net down a street at night, the doors

skimming the inside of the lamp posts. The lights go on in houses and people start yelling but

Deakin tops the rise, hauls the net aboard filled with 100 cases of tarakihi and is gone, disappearing into the dark.

He has long been ashore but the years spent at sea hunting fish in the wild days before the quota system cannot be easily forgotten.

These days his fishing is confined to dreams – and to brown trout in the Tongariro River, adjacent to the famed Creel Lodge that he owns at Turangi.

But he still goes to sea – in the Endeavour, the three-masted sailing ship that is a replica of the vessel Captain James Cook sailed in exploring New Zealand in the 18th century.

Deakin, 75, has rounded the Horn in a six-month voyage on Endeavour and will be aboard again in

Retired roughy pioneer still dreams of fishing Tim Pankhurst

SALT OF THE OCEAN

September when the ship sails from Sydney to Auckland to commemorate 250 years since Cook first sighted the land of the long white cloud.

A slightly built, wavy white-haired, white bearded gnomish figure with an impish smile, he keeps in practice for balancing on the yardarm by scaling and trimming the giant redwoods and oaks that dominate the Creel Lodge grounds.

On Endeavour he is a volunteer captain of the tops, overseeing a 14-man crew as he relays the captain’s and first mate’s orders for setting and trimming the sails.

On the long voyage he took it upon himself to restore the 32-metre masts, sanding them back and applying six coats of varnish, on top of his daily two by four- hour watches and four hours cleaning. It took two-and-a-half months.

When the vessel voyaged across the Pacific to Sydney in 2005, with 250,000 people lining the great harbour in

Peter Deakin’s vessel Seawyf with a large bag of orange roughy off the Wairarapa coast.



SALT OF THE OCEAN

welcome, there was a party aboard, a Sod’s Opera, and Deakin donned a dress and a red wig.

He greeted the Minister of Culture in that garb and still wore it when Endeavour finally docked late at night, long after the disappointed crowds had gone home, after the ship went aground and had to be dragged off by two tugs.

English-born Deakin went to sea when he was only nine years old, baiting hooks and helping out on a recreational fishing charter boat at weekends at Bridlington on the Yorkshire coast.

He left school at 15, training for the British merchant marine after his father told him he was too thick to work in the family’s greengrocer and fishmonger business.

Despite being barely literate, Deakin thrived in the navy and topped the training school.

He found his way to New Zealand and his first fishing post, crewing for Bill Muir aboard Golden Star out of Wellington.

He had never been seasick in nine years in the merchant navy but the Star was a rolly boat with a “sour bilge” and for almost all of that first year in Cook Strait Deakin routinely puked up his breakfast.

Muir was a “17-stone raver” who regarded all his crew as idiots.

On a particularly difficult day setting into a strong current off Cape Campbell, the net kept getting fouled as the boards crossed over.

After the fourth time and much cursing, Muir decided it was Deakin’s fault and barged out of the wheelhouse and came roaring down the deck to administer some rough justice.

“He came running at me and I hit him,” the diminutive Deakin laughed.

“He was so surprised he fell over. “Then he grabbed me in a great bear hug and almost

crushed the life out of me. “He said, this time you set the net, and do it just as I’ve

been doing. “Sure enough, the boards crossed over again, the net

fouled and Bill saw it wasn’t my fault. Bugger it, he said, let’s go home.”

On the way Muir talked about the next trip. “There isn’t going to be a next trip,” a riled up Deakin

said. “You fired me.” “Oh, don’t be like that,” the skipper responded. “Give us a song.” “And he grabbed the radio, pressed send and I sang

We Ain’t Got a Barrel of Money and then he belted out Smile Awhile,” Deakin said.

Having survived Bill Muir, whom he came to admire, his first job as a skipper was with Jurie Fisheries, on the side trawler Tamaris.

He had some good catches but after he took scales aboard and weighed the catch he found there were discrepancies between his landings and the payment. There were harsh words and Deakin suggested an uncomfortable place for the boat keys.

A quarter of a century later he was tying up his boat at the wharf and watched warily as his onetime boss Jim



SALT OF THE OCEAN

“She was a very hard boat to run, the fastest rolling boat on the New Zealand coast. “You couldn’t sleep on the side bunks because you would end up on the floor.”– PETER DEAKIN

Jurie came striding towards him. “We should make up,” Jurie said, putting out his hand. “I made a big mistake about you.” Philip Vela offered his vessel Green Pastures to Deakin

after he walked off Tamaris but he needed to be closer to home with a young family and opted for the Wellington trawling Company’s Southern Cross.

In two years as skipper he found top fishing grounds along the Wairarapa coast from White Rock to Tora.

He then took on Sea Harvest, owned by Rafael Muollo in Island Bay, one of four brothers from Sorrento in southern Italy who migrated to New Zealand in the 1920s – tough, nuggety men who like many pioneers in the fishing industry achieved prosperity through sheer hard work.

“She was a very hard boat to run, the fastest rolling boat on the New Zealand coast,” Deakin said.

“You couldn’t sleep on the side bunks because you would end up on the floor.

“There was no refrigeration, so you would have to rush out, fish night and day and run back in.”

He put in 20-hour days and learned to sleep standing up. After four years of being promised a new boat that

never materialised, Deakin had had enough. He wanted to be his own boss and had the opportunity

when Peter Stevens offered to sell him Seawyf. But he had to wait for repairs after Stevens, with media

aboard to highlight his claim Taiwanese squid vessels fishing with bright lights at night in Cook Strait were a hazard, hit rocks near the harbour entrance and holed the boat.

Once Deakin had ownership, Seawyf was sunk again. This time it was deliberate, sabotaged alongside a Wellington wharf in a well-publicised incident that made the front page of the Capital’s morning newspaper, The Dominion.

Deakin and Stevens were leaders of the Wellington Trawlermen’s Association fighting for a better deal over fish catches with wholesaling companies and that made them unpopular in some quarters.

Deakin knows the culprit but has long adopted the biblical teaching that forgiveness sets you free.

“They have to carry their burden of guilt.” He has not entirely forgotten, though – the clipping

Peter and Annie Deakin at their Creel Lodge home in Turangi.

features on the wall on his toilet with a typed note below naming the gentleman concerned and suggesting his payoff was a new Fiat.

Seawyf was salvaged but Deakin was in desperate financial straits.

His saviour was gemfish, a barracouta-like species popular with Greek fish and chip shop owners because of its high yield.

For three years he managed to keep his lucrative spot secret, revelling in the nickname bestowed on him – “Sneaky Pete”.

In October 1983 he made his first foray into the deep water in search of an exciting new fish that Peter McLean and David Wiley aboard Endurance were cleaning up on.

On his first attempt he caught 100 cases of the prize – orange roughy.

“In the course of that day I thought my heart was going to burst with the adrenalin and on the way back, for the first time in 16 years I slept soundly at sea.”

The roughy boom on the Wairarapa coast was under way and Deakin and all the fortunate skippers in small, under-powered inshore vessels out of Wellington and Napier were cashing in big time.

This strange, previously unknown deepwater fish was like gold.

It was not without drama though – Deakin stripped and rebuilt his overworked winches 28 times and when the trawl stuck fast in a rising sea the 49-foot Seawyf was nearly pulled under, the decks under water.

Deakin sent out a Mayday and told the crew to unlash the life raft. They were so panicked they cut it free and threw it overboard.

Over six fraught hours Deakin was able to inch the boat back into the northerly swells and get above the trawl and pop it free, as detailed in the book Roughy on the Rise (Steele Roberts, 2017),

“You were pretty calm Pete,” a crew member said after they had limped back to port.

“Like hell I was,” Deakin replied. “My left leg was doing a Fred Astaire, I couldn’t keep it

still.” He had another close call off Kaikoura, dealing with a

20-tonne bag of roughy. The swells were rising and he had the foresight to close

the hatches. It was just as well as the boat rolled, lifted a bag of fish

and dumped it on the deck, the weight forcing the vessel under the water.



SALT OF THE OCEAN

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The crew were up to their chests in the sea as they struggled to cut the net free.

Deakin sent out a Mayday, the second in his career. Victory skippered by Greg Clifford stood by but Deakin

managed to restore the situation and head home with a full hold and an empty bladder.

He was to fish roughy for seven years before selling Seawyf and 765 tonnes of quota in 1990. The vessel subsequently sank in the Bay of Islands.

Despite the success and the money rolling in through the orange roughy frenzy, it was a hard and lonely life and Deakin had some dark times.

After his then wife ran off with his best mate, he fell into depression and a crippling prolonged mental illness.

He came close to ending his life but says he was saved by a call from fellow fisherman Adie Aston.

Deakin had been a quiet man but as he emerged from his insecurities he found his voice.

“I didn’t learn to talk until I was 58 years old and now I can’t bloody well shut up.”

His wife Annie nods vigorously in agreement. They married a year ago after being partners

for 14 years and the pair are clearly close, cuddling and holding hands and talking softly.

Deakin had been drawn to Turangi, finding its landscape similar to his native Derbyshire south of Sheffield.

He had a house on the Tongariro River bank and was told by a neighbour that nearby Creel Lodge was for sale.

It was first developed by Sir Harold Beauchamp, Katherine Mansfield’s father. She wrote of wandering through thick forest to the river.

By the 1980s the lodge was being run by a Wanganui businesswoman as a gentlemen’s retreat, families and children not allowed, and Deakin had been refused access several times.

It was also known for having an accommodating female visitor, who always occupied unit two.

Deakin sat under a giant spreading oak and pondered whether a fisherman could deal with guests and run a lodge, minus the popular femme fatale.

He took the plunge and over 32 years has expanded

the property to 19 units, planted extensively, landscaped and added a tackle shop and café.

He has installed on site managers, Karen and Tim Walker, and lives with Annie in a house filled with seagoing mementoes at the rear of the property.

“I dream about the fishing every night,” he says. “The wonderful thing about the industry is the

characters, some serious characters. “We, as fishermen, experienced a level of freedom

nobody else on the planet can understand. We sailed outside the port and nobody knew where we were.

“There was no way of controlling us. Now there are lines on the ocean.”

In terms of fisheries management, that is no bad thing. But whether we will again see characters the likes

of the brave, desperate, larrikin Peter Deakin and his compatriots is another matter.

Photo, John Vaughan.



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Norway and Scotland the most negatively impacted producers. However, in only a few months Norway diverted the bulk of the 120,000 tonnes of salmon that was going to Russia to other markets with a large part going to the United States market. This is Chile’s core market where it sells valuable, and profitable, fresh fillets. The resulting price crash in the US market meant the Chilean industry was losing one dollar for every kilogram sold in the US.

Even New Zealand salmon exporters must have felt the low price environment of 2015. Norwegian salmon competes with New Zealand salmon in China, US and Australia. Luckily salmon is an industry with supply growth below demand growth and with the “help” of an algal bloom in Chile which reduced Chilean supply by 20 percent, prices increased and profitability returned.

More recently the US-China trade war is sending shock waves through the seafood industry. The stakes

OPINION

We live in a period where geo-political restrictions to trade are becoming more frequent and with higher global impact. For seafood, one of the food products with the highest dependence on trade, the impact can be considerable – and those impacted are not only in the directly involved regions.

I start my analysis with a recent example: the Russian embargo imposed by Western countries, related to the annexation of the Crimea. Before the embargo Russia was one of the largest importers of seafood in the world and a key market for European seafood exports, and especially Norwegian salmon. At the peak of the trade Norway exported over 120,000 tonnes of salmon worth over one billion Euro. As Russia became closed to Norwegian and Scottish salmon, Chile was the only producer large enough able to supply Russia, although due to the considerable distance, only with frozen products.

Initially it seemed that Chile was the beneficiary and

Global politics affecting seafood trade

Geo-political shifts cause ripple effects across the global seafood industry, writes Gorjan Nikolik.



OPINION

could not be higher. China is the world’s largest fish exporter and re-processer and the US the largest importer. A number of seafood industries will experience considerable impact, albeit the impact on China will be higher in the US. China exports $2.5b of seafood to the US. The already struggling tilapia fillet sector is hit twice – with a 25 percent tariff to the US and also higher

feed cost due to China’s 25 perent tariff on US soy beans, the main ingredient in tilapia feed.

There is no short-term fix but eventually other regions such as India, Mexico (if they do not get tariffs to the US) or maybe Vietnam, Indonesia or Brazil will replace China in the fresh tilapia fillet category. It will also become nearly impossible for the US wild catch industry to re-process salmon and ground fish in China.

This will be challenging at first but in the medium term other re-processing locations will have to be found. Russian and European wild catch producers which re-process in China for export to the US will also have to move. So China will have to focus only on Europe as an export market and only with Russian and European raw material, both of which are contracting in supply. So the Chinese re-processing sector will shrink considerably, which is already occurring.

From a New Zealand perspective there are oppor-tunities and risks. The opportunity is to supply China with products that were previously imported from the US – white fish products, but also high-value shellfish are likely candidates, such as lobster, where China is already the key market. The main risk is that China may stop being a re-processor of seafood, and New Zealand does export products to China for re-processing. The impact will depend on what the alternative to re-processing in China becomes. Lastly a possible further devaluation of the Chinese yuan as a response to the tariffs will be harmful to New Zealand seafood exports to China.

Finally, Brexit will also have an impact on global seafood trade especially if a no-deal scenario unfolds. The EU and UK trade approximately $1.8b in each direction. It is possible that some of these products, such as pelagics from the UK, may need to find another market, as the EU is currently fishing pelagics in UK waters and this quota will need to be given back. But the EU market may have a tariff for UK-sourced pelagics. There could also be a tariff for Scottish salmon, but in contrast to pelagics, it will be fairly easy to find a global market for salmon.

It is possible that New Zealand may need to find new import partners in the UK or EU. New Zealand products currently may enter the EU for instance in Germany or France, but the final customer could be a UK buyer. This trade is now tariff-free but it will incur a tariff in a no-deal Brexit scenario.

Rabobank International food and agribusiness senior industry analyst Gorjan Nikolik is a keynote speaker at the New Zealand Seafood Industry Conference in Queenstown.

Rabobank International food and agribusiness senior industry analyst Gorjan Nikolik.



STANDARDS

Workplace literacy and staff training go hand in hand

We have been working with the Primary ITO to review and update the seafood training programmes and materials, to make sure they are fit for purpose and meet industry needs. This includes the exciting new apprenticeships in commercial fishing, which are almost ready, and seafood processing. Those of you who are attending the New Zealand Seafood Conference and technical day will hear more about these new initiatives and more information will be provided by the Primary ITO very soon.

However, workplace literacy is something employers may need to consider before implementing staff training programmes. According to the statistics, 40 percent of the New Zealand workforce do not have sufficient literacy skills and 50 percent do not have sufficient numeracy skills to fully participate in their workplace, life and learning.

Workplace literacy is defined as the literacy, language and numeracy skills employees need to effectively carry out their roles. Mistakes, accidents and near misses, poor completion of paperwork, limited feedback from employees, resistance to new initiatives and staff turnover and absenteeism are all signs of a workplace literacy deficit.

While this sounds familiar, I have recently become aware of support that is available for employers to establish workplace literacy programmes to increase the capability of their workforce. The Primary ITO has a range of services available including competency assessments,

provision of advice, development of tailored workplace programmes, and access to the mentoring system.

There are more than 400 mentors around New Zealand currently providing learning support direct to employees. As well as literacy and numeracy assistance, mentors help with confidence building and motivation. They usually work with learners one on one, either at the workplace, during training or at local study nights. Alternatively, the ITO can provide training for those who may wish to become a mentor. The training is workshop-based and provides a good grounding for peer mentoring.

The ITO can also provide advice and assistance for your company to access the workplace literacy fund, available through TEC, administered by Skills Highway. Their staff will work with you to find a solution that suits your business needs, and I encourage you to get in contact.

For further information about the workplace literacy support, contact Marianne Farrell, Primary ITO, [email protected]

For general seafood industry training enquiries, contact Daniel Edmonds, Primary ITO, [email protected]

Cathy Webb is Seafood New Zealand’s seafood standards manager.

Some updated industry training programmes are ready for use – putting a fresh focus on workplace literacy so that the new learning opportunities can be fully explored.

Cathy Webb


RECIPE

Ingredients• 200g ling fillets • 50g flour • 1 egg • 200g panko bread

crumbs

Salad• 6 x 6 inch soft tortilla

tacos • ¼ red cabbage (finely

shredded) • 1 avocado, peeled and

sliced • Fresh coriander • Sliced red chili

Sauce Gribiche • 2 eggs • 6 cornichons • ¼ cup parsley leaves • 2 tbsp chives (chopped) • 1 clove garlic • 1 tsp capers (rinsed) • 1 tsp Dijon-style mustard • 1 tbsp lemon juice • 3 to 4 tsp extra-virgin

olive oil • ½ tbsp sea salt

Panko crumbed ling taco

Method• Ling Slice the ling fillet into smaller pieces, dust with the flour, then coat in egg and then the panko crumbs. Set aside.

• Salad Finely shred the red cabbage and rinse in ice water so it remains crisp. Drain and set aside.

Peel and slice the avocado.

• Sauce Put the eggs in a small saucepan and cover them with at least an inch of cool water. Bring the water (with the eggs in it) to a full boil. Cover the saucepan with a

lid and then remove from the heat. Let the eggs sit, still covered, for 7 minutes. Set a timer. While the eggs cook and sit, chop the cornichons, the parsley, and the chives. Peel and mince the garlic. They will end up in the food processor, but you don’t want any big chunks through the sauce, so it’s best to chop them up first.

Remove the eggs from the pot, rinse them in cold water until cool enough to handle, and peel them. Be gentle when you peel them, the yolks will be only just be set. (Don’t worry if you let the eggs sit a bit longer; a more-set yolk

won’t ruin the sauce at all and, in fact, for people who want to avoid any semblance of raw egg, it works great with fully hard-cooked eggs that sits in the hot water for a full 14 minutes.) Put the eggs in a food processor with the cornichons, parsley, chives, garlic, capers, and mustard. Pulse to chop everything up and make a rough paste. Add the lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper. Pulse to combine. You want a moderately smooth paste.

Adjust the seasoning to taste. Serve immediately or store, covered and chilled,

for up to two days. The sauce will taste its best at room temperature.Assemble Grill the tortilla until soft and assemble with the sauce on the bottom of the tortilla. Add some shredded cabbage and avocado slices. Deep fry the ling until crisp and cooked, and place on top of the cabbage. Garnish with the red chilli and coriander leaves.

Recipe courtesy of executive chef Shane Avent, QT Queenstown.


Photo, Torin Barnes.

WE’RE A FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS SPECIALISING IN WILD-CAUGHT FISH.

WE HAVE LONG-STANDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR FISHERMEN.

WE PROCESS OUR OWN PRODUCT.

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VISIT OUR STORES IN DUNEDIN & QUEENSTOWN, AND OUR PLANTS IN DUNEDIN & BLUFF.

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HARBOUR FISH

19134 Seafood Magazine 2.1.indd 1 24/07/19 12:13 PMSNZ Magazine August V6_def.indd 42 26/07/19 3:20 PM

Panko crumbed ling taco

WE’RE A FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS SPECIALISING IN WILD-CAUGHT FISH.

WE HAVE LONG-STANDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR FISHERMEN.

WE PROCESS OUR OWN PRODUCT.

WE SELL DIRECT — FRESH & FROZEN — TO RETAIL, WHOLESALE AND EXPORT DAILY.

VISIT OUR STORES IN DUNEDIN & QUEENSTOWN, AND OUR PLANTS IN DUNEDIN & BLUFF.

harbourfi sh.co.nz

HARBOUR FISH

19134 Seafood Magazine 2.1.indd 1 24/07/19 12:13 PMSNZ Magazine August V6_def.indd 43 26/07/19 3:20 PM


NEWS DIGEST


An estimated 1500 people attended the 19th annual Blessing of the Fleet at Port Nelson’s Wakefield Quay in late June. The community event combines the solemnity of remembering those who have lost their lives at sea with a celebration of the fishing industry, a cornerstone of the region’s economy. It was preceded by an impressive fireworks display the night before, which drew onlookers to every vantage point along the waterfront and Port Hills.

Seafearers’ Memorial Trust chair Mike Smith – who’s had a role in organising all 19 blessings – said

the ceremony had earned its place as one of the significant community events of the year, and was truly valued by fishing families. As well as a formal blessing, this year given by Archdeacon Any Joseph, it includes wreath laying, music, song, fish cook-ups and maritime displays.

Smith said the 20th blessing next year would have additional industry funding. Special activities being planned would be kept under wraps for now, but the event would be celebrated “in style’’, he said.

Fleet blessed for 19th time

Foodstuffs national manager Dave Jose. “A great customer seafood experience results

from quality, range and consistent supply, so the prerequisite for this is quota ownership,” he said.

“This acquisition further extends our ability to meet growing consumer demand for fresh, premium, sustainably-caught species. Our customers will get to take the seafood journey with us, as we look to unlock the story of provenance, sustainability and kaitiaki behind our quality New Zealand seafood.”

Consumers can expect Lee-Fish branded snapper, tarakihi, hapuku and line-caught tuna to be available in stores from August 1.

Foodstuffs North Island has announced the acquisition of one of New Zealand’s largest independent quota holders, Leigh Fisheries Ltd.

The acquisition is expected to provide a steady supply of premium New Zealand seafood for New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square customers.

Founded in 1958, Leigh Fisheries continues to operate from its historic site in Leigh, where it catches, processes and delivers fresh fish to domestic and international markets, all within 48 hours.

Its commitment to quality and sustainability and reputation as a leading supplier of premium chilled longline fish made Leigh an attractive purchase, said

Foodstuffs North Island makes big catch

Photo, Tim Cuff.



NEWS DIGEST

Submissions on the draft Marlborough Sounds Scallop Strategy close on August 13.

The Southern Scallop Working Group (SSWG) and Fisheries New Zealand are seeking input.

The southern scallop fishery (which includes the Marlborough Sounds) is currently closed. The draft strategy outlines the group’s immediate priority, which is to ensure that any future scallop fishing in

the Marlborough Sounds is sustainable and allows the fishery to rebuild to healthy levels.

Feedback can be sent until August 13. The SSWG says it will incorporate feedback into a final strategy to be released late this year. The draft strategy, a submission template and other information available at www.fisheries.govt.nz, under ‘News and Resources – Consultations’.

Scallop submissions sought

sometimes called “the Maori Grace Darling” is famed for her part in rescuing the crew of the brig Delaware when it was wrecked near Nelson in 1863. She and two companions swam into the surf and helped the crew ashore.

Port Nelson Ltd added another tug, the 52-tonne bollard pull Toia in 2016. Once the infrastructure project is completed with the rebuild of Main Wharf North, the port expects to accommodate vessels up to 270m.

Port Nelson has added a new tug with a 70-tonne bollard pull as part of $29 million infrastructure investment. The 24 metre Huria Matenga II arrived from Vietnam in mid-May. The first Huria Matenga was delivered to Nelson from Japan in 1983 and Captain John Tregidga, who was part of that delivery crew, was on board the new tug when it arrived.

The Huria Matenga II was blessed by iwi ahead of beginning work, with members of Huria Matenga’s tribe, Ngati Tama, taking part. Huria Matenga,

New tug for Port Nelson




Plans to improve the state of the Hauraki Gulf progressed last month, with the announcement of the Sea Change Plan Ministerial Advisory Committee.

Nine members were appointed, including Catherine Harland (co-chair), Paul Majurey (Mana Whenua co-chair), Volker Kuntzsch, Dr Jeremy Helson, Raewyn Peart, Dr John Montgomery, Tame

Te Rangi, Dr Valmaine Toki and Liane Ngamane. The committee will spend the next 12 months

shaping responses to various Sea Change Plan proposals and will provide the Department of Conservation and Fisheries NZ with independent, solutions-focused advice. All proposals will be subject to a thorough public consultation process.

Sea Change advisory committee named

The Tasman District Council estimates it will cost $28-$35 million to upgrade Port Tarakohe in Golden Bay at the top of the South Island to cater for anticipated massive expansion of mussel farming.

A council report last month said the small port had reached a point where the imminent growth of aquaculture, health and safety risks, food safety risks, operational inefficiencies, and lack of resilience to climate change threatened its ability to remain functional.

The upgrade proposal, which has gone out for public consultation, includes demolition of the existing timber wharf and construction of a new sheet-piled wharf area, repairs to the existing concrete wharf, and establishing separate commercial and recreational marinas.

Port Tarakohe was established by the Golden Bay Cement Company more than a century ago, and was taken over by the council in 1994.

Port Tarakohe upgrade mooted

A major Australian oyster fishery is ramping up production after a three-year program to safeguard itself against Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS).

Latest forecasts predict oyster production in South Australia to grow in the 2019/20 financial year for the first time since 2016/17.

In February 2016 the local oyster industry was affected by a severe supply shortage due to a POMS outbreak in Tasmania, where South Australian growers traditionally sourced 80 per cent of oyster spat.

Spat production in South Australia was ramped up in response, with the results beginning to show.

South Australia produced around 5.1 million dozen Pacific oysters in 2016/17 with volumes slumping to a preliminary estimate of just under 2.2 million dozen in 2017/18. The forecast for 2018/19 is a further reduction to about 2.1 million dozen.

However, volumes are forecast to recover to 2.2 million dozen in 2020/21 and steadily increase to harvests of in excess of 4 million dozen.

First reported in France in 2008, Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome is a disease that causes major

production and economic losses in commercial oyster farms. It has since been detected in Pacific oysters in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Asia and New Zealand.

Australian oysters bouncing back

NEWS DIGEST




NEWS DIGEST


Marine radio stalwart Meri Leask and Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese both back the seafood industry in a new phase of the television and social media campaign that kicked off in 2017 with “The Promise’’.

Leask has looked out for the Bluff fishing fleet for 40 years.

For all that time the “voice of Bluff” has single-handedly kept the town’s marine radio running from her kitchen on a voluntary, self-funded basis.

“The fishermen in our community have hearts of gold,” she said.

In Nelson, Australasia’s biggest fishing port, Reese is also an industry champion.

“The seafood industry’s really at the heart of our community, and it’s not just here in Nelson, you know, it’s all around the country,” she said.

The new campaign, launched last month, builds on the theme established in 2017 when the industry admitted to not always getting it right and made its promise to the people of New Zealand, underpinned by a code of conduct, to continue to raise the bar around innovation, sustainability, transparency and environmental responsibility.

“We have over 20,000 people employed in the seafood industry in New Zealand,” Reese says over images of fishing towns and villages, including Mangonui in Northland, Gisborne, Ngawi on the southern Wairarapa coast, Nelson, Kaikoura, Port Chalmers and Bluff.

“You think about New Zealand and who we are. We’re people of the sea.”

Whitianga commercial fisherman Adam Clow also features in the campaign, demonstrating a commitment to protecting seabirds.

As a longliner for Moana, Clow sets at night to avoid seabirds and also employs a tori line that has streamers attached to it to further deter birds from hooks, and the wires in the case of trawl nets.

A central part of the cover feature in this issue of Seafood NZ, Clow is particularly concerned about black petrels, rated “nationally vulnerable”, and has repeatedly visited breeding sites on Great Barrier Island.

The seafood industry is a key supporter of the Black Petrel Working Group, which brings together commercial and recreational fishers, environmental groups, government and iwi to promote seabird smart fishing practices in the Hauraki Gulf.

The innovative Precision Seafood Harvesting system that delivers fish live on deck, the career pathway in the fishing industry, the Quota Management System that underpins New Zealand’s sustainable fishery and state-of-the-art net technology that identifies target fish a kilometre deep all feature in the new campaign.

Promise campaign enters new phase

“New Zealand is a fishing nation,” Seafood NZ chief executive Tim Pankhurst said.

“All around the country there are good people doing a good job in demanding conditions.”

As well as providing fresh, delicious food and the mainstay of New Zealand’s most popular takeaway – fish ‘n’ chips – the seafood sector returned almost $2 billion in annual exports, helping a small, remote trading nation at the bottom of the world maintain an enviable standard of living, Pankhurst said.

“We want more people to appreciate that. We have a great story to tell.”

He said there would always be criticism of the industry.

“That may be deserved in some cases but overwhelmingly it is not. Our fishery is in good heart – the science confirms that – and our people are genuinely committed to good environmental practise.

“And independent observers employed by the Ministry for Primary Industries through Fisheries NZ, funded through government levies on the industry, monitor and report on our activities.

“We have made a promise and we will continue to do our best to live up to it.”

Bluff’s reknowned marine radio operator Meri Leask.

Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese.



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The Source for New Zealand Seafood Information.Seafood production and procurement can be a complicated business. Finding the facts behind the New Zealand seafood industry shouldn’t be.

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2019 SEABIRD SMART AWARDS

Skipper Mike Smith and Director Diane Brookes accept the 2017 Seabird Smart Award for Altair Fishing Limited

The Seabird Smart Awards are brought to you by Southern Seabird Solutions Trustso the valuable work fishers do to protect seabirds can be recognised. To make a nomination by post, email [email protected], or call 027 4444192 to request a form.

Who do you know that goes the extra mile to look after seabirds while fishing?

NOMINATE A MATE!

Visit www.southernseabirds .org/SSA2019

before 31 August 2019 to nominate them for an award .




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